The importance of play
Most adults assume that play is only for children and while play is essential in a child’s development (both psychologically and socially) adults can also benefit from play as well. As adults, we often take life way too seriously and when it comes to working out we fall into the “Beast Mode” mentality where everything has to be hard and super intense (which is fine on occasion) but training should also be fun.
Einstein said “Play is the highest form of research”.
He also said that "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution
As a kid, if you played with legos you were probably unaware of the benefits that extend far beyond just having fun. This form of play allowed you to tap into your creativity using toy blocks to construct intricate designs that were only limited by your imagination.
Some of the world’s most useful inventions stemmed from a person’s limitless imagination. Play gives us an opportunity to explore ourselves and our environment. It encourages out of the box thinking and problem-solving. With all that said, the focus of play should not be on a desired outcome or goal to achieve, play is about being in the moment.
The fitness community is often predicated on this beast mode mentality where everything has to be super intense where you're beating your body down, there are no days off and you're pushing yourself to your max day after day. I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about aesthetics but my main priority with my training is movement efficiency and having fun. If I'm not training to move well and not having fun while doing it, then what's the point? Now I do lift weights but to be honest I find it boring at times doing the same repetitive movement over and over again...and as we've learned, if you're bored you're not in flow. So what I've recently started doing is incorporating movement games in between my sets, I'll practice juggling, do some kind of mobility drill pretty much anything that challenges me cognitively. Now you don't have to do this, if you currently lift weights and you're having the time of your life doing so then, by all means, continue doing what you're doing. However, if you're doing a workout and you absolutely dread it, then you need to find a way to modify it so it's more enjoyable or change the workout completely.
Finally write down how you intend to incorporate my "Play" into your training, brainstorm, use some examples I've provided from the previous module or brainstorm some ideas of your own. It can be anything you'd like, the key is that it's fun.
"The warrior of light behaves like a child.
People are shocked; they have forgotten that a child needs to have fun and to play, to be slightly irreverent and to ask awkward, childish questions, to talk nonsense that not even he believes in.
And they say, horrified: 'So this is the spiritual path, is it? He's so immature!'
The warrior feels proud of such comments. And he remains in touch with God through his innocence and his joy, without ever losing sight of his mission." - Paulo Coelho - Warrior of the Light